There was a time when I want to scribble something, an itch to write pages, to talk endlessly; visualizing those heroic acts, those brave confrontations and the time of our lives. Last time it was Anil Kumble, now it is Rahul Dravid.

Dravid’s cover drive, his pull, his on drive, his square cut, his flick and many more of defense and leaving the ball alone were only the visual beauty of his game. Perfection, that is what he aimed for. It showed. Persevering to be better all the time. I guess that is what it is all about. To be better. He was never rewarded enough. And criticism never was too far away either. But he was always a gentleman. On and off the field. Guess, his retirement in way shows us the way of life. But it is those circumstances, those games, those heroic acts which will never escape the memories etched in us.

Dravid is a hero. A wounded one at times. And he has fought back always. An inspiration to the way of life. A genius who struggles at times. An artist so involved. A warrior and yet to so human.

Dravid, has been a treat. But it is the Dravid who has helped when we have felt a little scared and a little helpless. And will continue to be that source of inspiration. Hats off!

Every nation has heroes. Heroes who reflect where the nation will head to. Heroes hit that right nerve which creates the same emotion across societies. When a greater part of society does not have heroes, it means that the people do not have a benchmark, a height unattainable, a pass time to forget the drudgery of that everyday life and much much more.

What Ayrton Senna did in Brazil, what Lance Armstrong did in America etc are just some examples to create that effect.

Where are our heroes?

Hope the nation finds its set of heroes. They will drive the nation.

Sachin is one. But again, he is one. We need a Sachin or Dravid in every sport. In every other sport. In every sector. That is when I will start believing that a country like India can be a force.

The expensive hobby which people like showing off. In most cases people cannot click to save their lives but they do exhibit their lenses and a DSLR. Weird photos are called art. Angles which make no sense are called new point of views. Narcissistic self portraits are ‘liked'”. The camera journeys through exactly 5 treks, a 10 minute one to an hour long ordeal into the wilderness, that is time away. Honeymoon, the better half can be missed, but not the image taking, time freezing equipment. If all the 3 are found together, then overtime clicks and umpteen poses orangutan, hands on the face, the face eating the sun (well, it is possible. Practice makes man perfect), the waterfall pee and the others. Photoshop means all of the above + more likes.

Click, click and upload on Facebook, Twitter, Chat rooms, dating sites etc. Update and like karma hits you and you reach one step closer to salvation. Nice pic. Whoa! Looking pretty. With some customary punctuation and some parenthesis, eg: [:), ;P]. After counting the likes, like the other photos. Return the favor. Once in a while put up the heroes photos to break the monotony, preferably from a movie release or the movie yet to release. Karma points++

Next organize photos, by date, by friends, join by happiness quotient. Sort it by importance. Take a backup. Curse Microsoft for making Windows and accentuate it when the Blue Screen of death hits you. Jog back the memory to see what you did at what gathering. Show it to people who show immense interest in your life, your kids, your house etc. Once in a while take an old pic and upload it to the social networks.

There was a time when photos meant something. A photo in the wallet really meant something. Or a wall hanging or a show piece actually made you go back to the time gone by.

As a hobby, you spent time with the camera clicking nature or other things and went through the pains of learning the physics of photography.

Over the years, as I have indulged myself , shamelessly, almost on the planes of addiction, drawing enough ‘expertise’ in concluding which often explain themselves in very tangential ways.

While I sit and observe and put up explanations on the table, the world seems to have moved on just a little bit ahead. Every single time. This often results in the front-runner-follower syndrome. To snap out of it, a different perspective is all one needs. And if these perspectives reach a critical mass, they as a collection will probably be called wisdom 🙂

People, 9 out of 10 complain. Or even more. And a large number of them say that they are bored. In a way we were raised to be ever bored. Such were the times. Excitement of the new often outweighs the existing ‘monotony’. If this is one end of spectrum it manifests as the ‘ever-excitement’ in some, typical to people who have made decisions of greater magnitude, or so they assume.

There is unfortunately no cure for boredom. Channelize it, you schmucks 🙂 Thank enough, that you are bored!

The ever-excited get back the bald-blue! Invite boredom into your life.

And as they say, no matter what life just goes on, no matter how you feel. It’s what you do that counts.

Priya weds Raj, the big flowery banner said. Apoorva was the center of attention that day, with the friend circles at least. And rightly so, she was the architect. She did it with fervor and genuine excitement too.

Somebody asked rather awkwardly her, ‘So whom did you find for yourself, now that you have set up these 2?’.

‘Now now, nobody played that for me’, she said, smiling while answering to someone.

War is in the air. Everywhere. There has been a constant struggle in almost every part of the world for about 200 years now. Communism. Religion. Commerce. Power. Hunger. etc.

War is not combat. If it was we would see rapid annihilation. World wars and the more recent battles are just examples. War is a tool to destroy something much more than taking away some lives. Forget the old brains or ancient wisdom, and have they have professed on the art and the science of war, or the recent ones who have written the cul de sac version of the same.

Imagine a time and space when there is no war. Nothing.

A passionless world with people minding their own businesses. A moral suicidal world, anti-darwinian and stagnant almost.

While having a lazy mid – afternoon lunch at office, wherein we talk about anything and everything just to kill time, we discussed movies. Here are the FAQs

Bollywood movies are not reality and hence people watch it, nobody wants to see something real

This is one of those arguments which piss me off. Reality is know to no one. None. As hard as we try, we can never know. If we knew it, we would plan to alter it. That is why there are experts in certain fields. A yogi, a doctor, a physicist, a historian, a film maker, a baker, an author etc etc. I mean if we knew what each of these people do in their everyday life, some would stories to us. The agenda of struggle through life for the mall going, KFC eating, car driving etc is a self created pitiable story, a struggle. What reality have we seen and what stories do we know? These shallow unoriginal reasons to escape reality is a mere travesty that is best ignored.

Popular opinions makes these movies a grand success

This is just the immediate fallout of democracy. Politics and Art are 2 very different things. Most people in India are agriculturalists and live in the villages, does that make it pertinent to go to these villages and till the land and sow the seeds. (clarification: this is not a dig at farming, for once who love jumping to conclusions). Movies offer a lot more, a look at stories, a summary of collective imagination and a brew of observations!

Realistic movies offer solutions

Nobody offers solutions. And if they do, they are being rather communist about it. Knowledge alone does not solve problems. And it is art, it is meant to entertain, if they show problems and offer solutions, you are watching a page 3- commie movie.

Watching foreign movies is super cool

Yeah right. So is living on Mars. But you cannot just bitching about movies made locally. Good ones come too and you got to be aware of that.

Movies reflect the overall sentiment of the society

This is crazy. Our movies are nowhere near undramatic lives that we live. Nor do we we live the meager life that the liberal movies showcase. It simply does not. Period